Note From Nursery, Retirement Considerations, Cutting My Hair?

    What is going on with me now?  Almost the last day of January in 2015.  I am doing well? good? fine?  It is about 75 degrees here in the mornings and my shoulder is strong enough now that I can be outside and walk without the *&(#&$^*# sling.  I am back as the Nursery Leader at Church and the house is very quiet with everyone gone back home from their Christmas visit here.

Me in the Nursery before my shoulder surgery last September 2014.  One of my
favorite things is to get my iPad and take pictures of me with the children.  This
sweet boy has moved from the Ward, but I have very fond memories of him and
what I learned while I got to teach and be with him.

Skyping with Megan and Kate and Jon.  In this picture, Jon is about the same age as Megan, in the photo
below with Lauren and Nathan.

    There are two yellow butterflies chasing each other around in the side yard--I can see them from my widow when they flit from the shadows of the trees into the sunny, grass areas.  It reminds me that the hibiscus bushes along one side of the house are dying (they're more than 20 years old . . . they are allowed to expire) and I don't know what I want to put in their place.
     Classes have started again for Nate and me--Managerial Accounting and MacroEcon are the bears this semester.  I hate the wait between the start of class and the first test--cause I don't know exactly how to study for the tests . . .
     Brent is still the Stake Clerk.  He (somehow, somewhere) tore some of the ligaments (or tendons, don't remember) along the bottom of his right foot and they are taking a long time to heal.  The pain was (is) enough to keep him from going out on a fossil hunting weekend he planned over the holidays.  Anything that will keep him away from fossils is definitely serious.
     My hair is long-long and, with my right arm out of commission, it is a real bother to take care of.  Also thinking about cutting it shoulder length so it would be easier to wash and keep out of my face.  Not very interesting thoughts, eh?

Lauren (3) and Meg (5) with Nathan (about 6 months).  We were living in Bedford, TX.  1989.

     Nathan is Elders Quorum Secretary and spends Friday mornings (no school on Fridays) at the Lake Park City Hall doing work for the accounting department.  He is in charge of making the arrangements so that we can go to Tampa this summer and see what a real Lego convention is like . . . believe it or not, I am really excited.  Surrounded by all of his Lego creations here at home (his room is filled from floor to ceiling with shelves of them), I am becoming a fan myself.  I like the ones that you put together and then program to do stuff.  cool.
     Brent surprised me this week by broaching the subject of retirement.  augh.  Right now the yard costs a LOT to keep up because of all of the fancy plants that I have gathered over the last 10 years.  He asked me if we could simplify so it didn't need quite so much attention.  It is almost like when I had to give up my horse.  Every day held 4 to 5 hours at the stables--it was my sanity.  I went from that to working on the grounds around the house . . . little more than an acre, but enough to keep me with holes in the knees of my jeans, dirt under my fingernails, and trails of mulch and garden soil following me in and out of the house.  Now I can't do anything in the yard (that's how I tore my shoulder off this 4th time)--so it makes sense to scale things back.  I got used to be a grandmother without any trouble, but this makes me feel  . . .  old.
     Actually, simplifying the gardens around our home is not much like giving up my horse.  I don't feel the same rush of joy when I pull up weeds as when I rode Agraciada through the fields in Texas.

Lauren and Robert are sealed in the Ft. Lauderdale FL Temple in November 2014.  Hard to see here, but Lauren is very
round in front.  I am glad the baby was able to be there.

     On the bright side, Lauren is just 5 weeks away from her due date.  They know that they are having a boy--she predicts that he will have dark eyes and a thick thatch of dark hair when he arrives.  Her body is stretched out and her joints ache.  Her husband couldn't go with her to her doctor appointment on Wednesday, so I got to go.  They didn't do an ultra sound, but I did get to hear the baby's heart beat.  It sounds like he has a strong heart.
     I know that it will be wonderful to have him finally here where we can all do more than just pat his mom's tummy and wish him "Good night!" and "I love you!"  Which reminds me, I need to call Kate and Jon and talk to them.  They are already out and bouncing/growing about.